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[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/xSGpGDY.png[/img][img]http://i.imgur.com/xSGpGDY.png[/img][/center]

"Th-thank you, brother," Hogarth hiccuped, accepting the makeshift bandage and holding it to his eye. Naviela approached, warily observing the room as she knelt beside the injured young goron. 

"Here," she offered, tying the clothe around his head. "Keep it closed. We'll get it seen to when we get out."

Lethe remained abnormally quiet-- a detail that, with Hogarth as well as he was going to get for now, Naviela did not continue to ignore.

"This is the keystone, isn't it?" she quiried, standing. 

Eyes still on Hogarth, Lethe was silent before responding. "[color=#beaccb]Well,[/color]"" she mused, stepping forward, but giving Hogarth some obvious berth, "[color=#beaccb]It. Certainly [i]looks[/i] like it could be the keystone.[/color]"

Zephyrus was strangely heartened by this Goron custom. Brother, to them, was a word that seemed to refer to all people amicable - but it carried a weight with him that lit some small, warm spark against the wet-cold of his gut. It wouldn't soon replace the knowledge that a child had been lost under his watch, but it was some small comfort to feel brotherly again. Although, with that sensation came a new, subtle guilt which laid itself across the back of his mind to niggle from the dark: what [i]had[/i] become of his brother, in this torturous place?

The Sheikah raised his eyes, led by the observations of his companions. Then, he exchanged a brief look with Naviela - wrought with situational scepticism. This all seemed a little too convenient, for a place so deathly as this - a swinging blade and an army of ghoulish hands begot... a platform?
Anybody could have retrieved it from here. It didn't take a Sheikah - even a panicked Goron had managed to find it.

"[color=267FD3]If it's the real stone, it's almost certainly a trap,[/color]" Zephyrus observed, after a few moments,  "[color=267FD3]I think it only fair that we prioritise a leaving strategy for our Goron friend, before we try to grab it. You three should locate an exit, and I will do the honours.[/color]"

He would lose nobody else today.  

Naviela nodded in agreement before helping Hogarth to his feet and leading him away. Lethe silently followed suit.

Zephyrus stood before the pedastal with his feet shoulder-width apart, his weapon stowed away on his back. His hands hovered at either side of the jewel, reticent. This keystone, carved of a crystal as red as his eye.

"[color=267FD3]Is everybody ready?[/color]"

"Ready," Naviela confirmed when the loudest remaining member of their group now that Jillian was gone remained silent. 

As the stone was removed, there was a delay almost long enough to accomodate a sigh of relief before, seemingly out of nowhere, metal bars fell over the exit. Naviela tugged Hogarth through the secret wall before they could be trapped in the room with Zephyrus. Lethe jumped back as well, but immediately gave the ring on her finger a twist. Transforming back into a fairy, she flitted back through the wall and between the bars, watching in horror as several glowing red spikes appeared along the walls and cieling. Slowly but surely, each row of spikes started to inch closer with the loud grating sound of stone upon stone. The room was, in a sense, shrinking.

A breath caught in Zephyrus' throat for an instant, as panic whelmed up from his chest, as an air bubble might, rising towards the surface of an otherwise still lake. He stared back at his team through the bars, as death approached him on all sides. For the first time visibly unnerved.
Then he exhaled, and began to breathe again. When the river bent, the water kept flowing - panic was a concept it had no need for. And so, he let it go.

"[color=267FD3]Should the worst happen, let it be known that at least one Sheikah died here with his head held high.[/color]"

That was not admitting defeat, simply accepting the possibility with decorum. The reality waited to be seen, and Zephyrus set to work.
First thing was first - what would he do with this keystone? He stowed it in his bag, although the thing's size meant it took up [i]all[/i] of the available space, and strained at his neck somewhat. Then he threw his eyes left, right and upwards - the walls were closing in. It would be wasting time if he tried to replace the keystone, if it didn't work it would be ten seconds less of thought. 

Think. A Sheikah temple. This was a puzzle of some sort, wasn't it? Everything about their ways was encoded in riddle. They were Shadow People, after all.

"[color=267FD3]Shadow people.[/color]"

He drew his gaze across the length of the encroaching walls. Two torches for every one of them. He inhaled deeply, and then found his stance, before throwing his arms out to either side - willing forth a blast of sharp, cold air to snuff their fires out, and coax the shadows from the approaching corners.

[i]"[color=267FD3]Hmph![/color]"[/i]

[i]Whoosh![/i] The flames went out. And the grating continued. With the exception of Lethe's fairy light, the room was engulfed in darkness but continued to shrink. "[color=beaccb][i]Great.[/i][/color]" Lethe commented, some of her brazenness restored as she flew forward, hovering by Zephyrus's shoulder, "[color=beaccb]Well, that wasn't a very bright idea, was it? Now it's dark AND you're going to be crushed to death.[/color]"

"[color=267FD3]At the very least, I don't need to see the means of my demise in such stunning detail. I will admit, though, I had hoped that would solve some archaic puzzle and slow the springing of this trap. What do you suppose I should do?[/color]"

"[color=beaccb]Hell if I know![/color]" Lethe griped, heaving a sigh as she squinted into the darkness. Being the only light source, she could barely make out the tips of the impending spikes. "[color=beaccb]Why'd you put out all the torches anyway?[/color]"

"[color=267FD3]I suppose I hoped it was some old Sheikah trick, and that by extinguishing the flames I would stop the spikes. I've heard legends of that sort of thing, and my options [i]were[/i] quite limited: I can hardly fight the spikes, can I?[/color]", Zephyrus asked, removing his guan dao from his back in order to prod in the direction of the spikes at his left for emphasis. 

Lethe frowned, falling silent for several seconds. "[color=beaccb]Maybe there's no solution,[/color]" she said at last.

"[color=267FD3]You may be right. I regret only that I'm still holding the keystone, then: that my last action may well have been an inconvenience. It isn't in my nature to stand still in times of trouble, so I might well struggle when the spikes are too close for me to bare. But if I do, you will tell Archer I died with decorum, won't you? He should remember me as I was, and am: a sobering, some might say [i]dull,[/i] point of reference.[/color]"

Zephyrus replaced his polearm, slotting it back into the retaining ribbons of cloth on his back, and then sat down cross-legged. 

"[color=beaccb]Wh--[/color]" Lethe flitted into his line of sight, "[color=beaccb]That's it?! You're just gonna... sit down?? And die? I only said maybe![/color]"  

Flying about the room in a panic, Lethe searched the walls in hope of finding a something they'd missed. A button, a switch, a riddle-- anything. 

"[color=267FD3]I'm thinking. If we're meant to figure something out, we will.[/color]"

Though she knew she could leave at any time, Lethe continued searching, grumbling under her breath. Her efforts were to no avail. The spikes were closing in. It wouldn't be long now before Zephyrus would die.

A minute at best, by a liberal estimate. But Zephyrus tried his best to keep his calm, his head low. It might have seemed a fool's death, but it seemed inevitable that one of them was going to be trapped in here - better it was him, he supposed. 

The spikes were drawing in to the point of visibility, again.

"[color=beaccb]UGH![/color]" Lethe exclaimed, ripe with frustration. Returning to Zephyrus, she grasped the ring around her waist pushed it down over her hips and legs. "[color=beaccb]Put this on![/color]" she shouted. 

Zephyrus didn't hesitate to listen, but he did quirk his brow at her as he took the ring. His expression, still clear and calm, turned momentarily towards a small, but thankful, warmth. Then he slid the ring onto his left pointer finger, and extended his hand with each finger splayed, in an attempt to interpet just what this meant - in doing so, giving Lethe access. She twisted the crescent on the crown face of the ring, like a dial, hurriedly, and the two were lost in the sudden bloom of a rushing plume of white smoke, billowing out and dissipating against the encroaching spikes. When it did, Zephyrus as he had been - tall and graceful- was gone. In his place, a ball of shimmering white, swaying left and right as it hung in midair. A fairy.

"[color=267FD3]Oh.[/color]"

"[color=beaccb]Alright, hurry! Let's get out of here!"[/color] Lethe gave Zephyrus an impatient shove towards the exit. 

Zephyrus lurched forwards, but the experience of flight wasn't quite like anything he had ever felt before. He pressed on, but his altitude would dip erratically. It was almost like using magic - almost. Innate but not necessarily comfortable.

"[color=267FD3]This is like nothing I've [i]ever[/i] experienced,[/color]" he remarked, in a muddled tone, as he slipped between the bars of the room, and out through the false wall again.

"[color=beaccb]Don't complain,[/color]" Lethe replied sharply, gripping his arm as his inexperience nearly pulled him down again. The grating sound coming from the room left behind finally ended with a heavy slam. "[color=beaccb]You weren't [i]supposed[/i] to experience this and if you're at all grateful to me for saving your life, you won't tell anyone. Understand?[/color]" As Lethe spoke, she spun around to face Zephyrus and gripped the crescent head of the ring, temporarily oblivious to personal boundries as she glared at him sternly.

Zephyrus hadn't been [i]complaining[/i], per say, but decided not to contradict her presumptions: she was, after all, his [i]hero[/i] in this moment. It was better to pay his respects than argue arbitrarily. She had ensured that there was still a chance, at the end of all of this, that he might see Archer again, so if she had she told him the world as they knew it was a totally flat plain, in that second he would have agreed with her. He chose not to acknowledge the involuntary shock of red in his features, either, when she grappled the ring that was now about his waist. It was a peculiar embarrassment, but, again, not worth trespassing into disrespect over. Sheikah warriors were a dignified, discplined group, anyhow: they didn't [i]blush.[/i]

How improper!

"[color=267FD3]You, of course, have my word - and my gratitude. I owe you whatever time I have left with what remains of my family, and it brings me incredible peace... your secret is safe with me.[/color]"

A short pause.

"[color=267FD3]We are, however, accompanied.[/color]"

Naviela and Hogarth watched the exchange in shocked silence. Noticing their presence, Lethe huffed in annoyance before turning the crescent every which way until the same spark of white smoke engulfed Zephyrus once more. "[color=beaccb]That goes for you guys, too![/color]" Lethe exclaimed, "[color=beaccb]Not a word to anyone![/color]" She yanked the ring off of Zephyrus's finger and perched herself on Hogarth's head. Stetching one arm above her head, Lethe slipped the ring back on, wiggling as she struggled to pull it over her shoulders and wings until it once again rested at her hip. 

"[color=beaccb]Now,[/color]" Lethe sighed, "[color=beaccb]We've got the keystone-- so I think it'd be best if we collected the others and got out of here.[/color]"